Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. PM-CARES funds need not be credited to NDRF: SC The Supreme Court today held that money received into the PM-CARES Fund need not be credited to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said "PM-CARES is entirely different from NDRF". On the other hand, the court held that there is "no statutory prohibition on individuals to make voluntary contributions to NDRF" under Section 46(1)(b) of the Disaster Management Act of 2005. The judgment, read out by Justice Bhushan, found no reason to modify the National Disaster Management Plan. "The plan is sufficient," Justice Bhushan said. There was no need for a fresh plan in the light of the Covid-19 experience. The judgment was in response to a PIL filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave and advocate Prashant Bhushan. The government took the stand that PM-CARES was a "public charitable trust" to which "anyone can contribute". It is a "misconception" that contributions received by a public trust such as PM-CARES could be transferred to a statutory fund such as the NDRF, the government maintained in the Supreme Court. Government jobs only for locals, says Madhya Pradesh CM Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. File Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today announced that government jobs in the State would now be reserved for people from the state only. Describing it as an "important decision," Chouhan said in a video message, "We are making the required legal provisions for it. Resources of Madhya Pradesh are for the children of Madhya Pradesh." He added, "From today, the youth of Madhya Pradesh will have the first right over its resources. All government jobs will be reserved for its youth only. Our aim is to include the State's talent in its development." Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath said Chouhan had, in fact, acted in accordance with decisions of the previous Congress government. "Anyway, you woke up from sleep after 15 years today regarding the employment of youth." Congress makes official complaint to Facebook The Congress on Tuesday made an official complaint to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the social media company's "bias" and asked for a "thorough and impartial investigation and inquiry into Facebook India operations and practices". Separately, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "We cannot allow any manipulation of our hard-earned democracy through bias, fake news & hate speech. As exposed by @WSJ, Facebook's involvement in peddling fake and hate news needs to be questioned by all Indians". Party general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal wrote to Zuckerberg on behalf of the party and cited The Wall Street Journal's report, which had claimed that Facebook India officials provided the ruling BJP with "favorable treatment on election-related issues". FIR in Chhattisgarh against Facebook India executive, two others An FIR has been filed in Raipur against Facebook's public policy director in India, Ankhi Das, and two users of the social media platform for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, police said on Tuesday. The case was lodged on Monday based on the complaint of Awesh Tiwari, a Raipur-based journalist. Besides Das, the others named in the FIR are Ram Sahu from Mungeli (Chhattisgarh) and Vivek Sinha from Indore (Madhya Pradesh). Tiwari lodged the case after he was named by Das in her complaint to Delhi Police. Das had claimed in her complaint that she has been receiving threats to her life through online posts. On other hand, Tiwari, in his FIR, has said that on August 16, he put up a post on his Facebook account related to an article published in the Wall Street Journal. [The WSJ had reported that Facebook refused to apply hate speech rules to certain BJP politicians.] "Two Facebook users, with names Sahu and Sinha, jumped in to defend Das and commented on his (Tiwari's) post that she (Das) is a Hindu and she is talking in the interest of the faith. Sahu allegedly posted derogatory and communally sensitive photographs and also threatened him," read Tiwari's complaint. Tiwari also said he had been receiving threats and calls on WhatsApp after his post. He alleged that Das, Sahu, and Sinha were trying to defame him and spreading religious hatred, as a result of which his life is under threat and he is living in constant fear. Dream 11 wins IPL title sponsorship rights Dream11, a fantasy sports application, has bagged the title sponsorship rights for the IPL's 2020 edition for ₹222 crore. Brijesh Patel, the IPL chairman, confirmed to The Hindu that Dream11 was finalised after "evaluating the three bids that were submitted during the prescribed window earlier today." The other two bidders were e-learning platforms Unacademy (₹170 crore) and Byju's (₹201 crore). The eligible entities among those who had submitted their Expression of Interest (EoI) were asked to email bids online between 11 am and 1 pm on Tuesday. The Tata group, despite submitting the EoI document last week, pulled out of the race. Interestingly, Dream11, which has been a BCCI and IPL partner for a couple of years now, also has a minority investment by Chinese firm Tencent Holdings. BCCI was forced to invite EoIs for IPL title sponsorship rights after Vivo India pulled out barely six weeks before the start of the tournament. Vivo India's deal was valued at ₹440 crore per annum. If you're not familiar with Dream11 and fantasy sports in general, you can read a quick profile that we have here. Ashok Lavasa resigns as Election Commissioner Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa. File Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa has submitted his resignation to the President, asking to be relieved by August 31. His appointment as a vice-president at the Asian Development Bank had been announced in July, and therefore, his resignation was expected. Lavasa, a retired IAS officer of the 1980 batch, had been appointed Election Commissioner in 2018 and was in the running to become the Chief Election Commissioner when CEC Sunil Arora retires in April 2021. However, the Manila-headquartered ADB announced in July that Lavasa had been appointed the VP for private sector and public-private partnerships. Lavasa's departure from the Election Commission now means that EC Sushil Chandra is next in line for the post of CEC. Bombay HC rejects GN Saibaba parole plea The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected the emergency parole plea filed by G.N. Saibaba to attend his mother's post-funeral rites in Hyderabad. Saibaba, 50, is 90% physically disabled. A former professor of Delhi University, Saibaba is incarcerated in Nagpur Central Jail. He has been convicted of Maoists links and is serving out a life sentence. After prison authorities rejected his parole application for attending the last rites of his mother, who died on August 1 of cancer, Saibaba had moved the High Court. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 27,52,727 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 52,865. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was on Monday night admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. Shah, who had contracted the coronavirus, had tested negative on August 14. "Amit Shah has been complaining of fatigue and body aches for last three-four days. He has tested negative for Covid-19. He has been admitted to AIIMS for Covid care. He is comfortable and is continuing his work from hospital," AIIMS media and protocol division chairperson Dr Aarti Vij said in a statement. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India has begun negotiations with 13 more countries to establish air bubble arrangements for international flight services. The countries include Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. Khel Ratna: Rohit Sharma, Vinesh Phogat, Manika Batra, M Thangavelu recommended Cricketer Rohit Sharma and woman wrestler Vinesh Phogat were among the four athletes recommended for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country's highest sporting honour. Paddler Manika Batra and Rio Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariappan Thangavelu were the other two sportspersons recommended for the prestigious award by a 12-member selection committee of the Sports Ministry. In Brief: Uttar Pradesh police arrested journalist Prashant Kanojia from his Delhi residence today afternoon, on the grounds that a tweet posted by him had "disrupted communal harmony". The FIR released by the police referred to a deleted tweet by Kanojia, which had allegedly shown a 'Hindu Army' leader as saying Ram temple in Ayodhya should not allow entry to Dalits, STs and OBCs. Pakistan's drug watchdog has approved the phase-III clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine developed in collaboration with a Chinese company, a media report said on Tuesday. According to a statement from the National Institute of Health (NIH), it has obtained "formal approval" from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for phase-III clinical trial of a vaccine developed by CanSinoBio, a Chinese biopharma major, and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology China (BIB). Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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